These people could be having as much fun with beer glasses in their hand.

It is around the holiday season that, more than usual, I find myself imbibing non-beer beverages when attending parties, events, etc. It is not really due to my choice (although sometimes), but more often because beer is simply not on offer. Mulled wine, spiked egg nog, champagne on New Year’s Eve and the ubiquitous red wine are the go-to beverages at this season. Beer is a passing thought, offered for the hardcore Bud Light drinker who won’t have anything else.

It need not be that way. I enjoy red wine, and in a festive moment like New Year’s champagne is fun. But I think the possibilities for beer at these times are under-explored. And my editors at Vue Weekly thought so to. For their Xmas/New Years’ issue, they wanted me to draw up some suggestions for festive beer that could fit the bill when you have had your last mulled wine and can no longer even look at eggnog.

So, I offer up to you, my humble readers, a guide to beer appropriate for the holidays. For the full list, you can read the article here, but I don’t wish to reproduce the 10 or so specific beer I discuss in the column. Not because I am mean or lazy, but because the specific beer are just handy examples. Here I want to offer my underlying logic for why I select those beer. What are profiiles I am looking for in a beer to replace the traditional holiday staples?

• Eggnog: This creamy, rich favourite is rather impossible to duplicate, but fortunately you can find beer with some creaminess and the same warming effect. I would search for a fuller bodied beer but not too roast-y or bitter. A big creamy milk stout or a British barley wine might fit the bill well. As might a sweet doppelbock. They lack the richness, but offer some of the other qualities.

• Mulled Wine: Here the easy option is one of the spate of spiced Christmas ales that adorn our shelves this time of year. Most would fit the bill nicely, due to their accent of the same spices – cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, etc. But they are not the only beer that offer mulled wine’s qualities of rounded body, spices and a warming effect. How about a Weizenbock? A bready, sweet malt base accent by fruity esters and a distinct earthy clove and earth note.

• Wine for the Host: It is customary when coming to a house party during this time of year to bring the host a bottle of wine. Why not some special beer instead? Anything with slightly higher alcohol and an intended complexity will fit the bill. Any range of Trappist or Abbey Ales would work, or even a Flanders Red, which can be remarkably similar to red wine. Barley wines are good here too, but possibly a bit too intense.

• Festive Meal: Subtlety is the key when pairing beer with the festive meal. The meats are drier and subtle, and there are a lot of other flavours going on. So I suggest going for something moderate and middling – not in terms of quality but in terms of flavour profile. You don’t want too hoppy, but not too sweet either. Not too heavy but thin gets lost. Unique flavours like Belgian yeast spiciness, Lambic tartness or accents like smoke, oak, fruit and so on get in the way of the meal. In contrast, the inherent moderateness of a quality red ale, brown ale, amber lager or even Munich helles. You might get away with something as sweet as an Oktoberfest, but I wouldn’t push it much higher than that. A toned down pale ale might work, but nothing to hop forward.

• New Year’s Eve: Yes champagne is king here, but I find most are rather insipid at the end of the day (now, before I get hate emails, i have, indeed, found some champagnes that are lovely in their subtle complexity. Sadly, most are not that). It can be hard to counter the effervescent liveliness, unassuming body and light sweetness that champagne offers. There are  not many beer that can live up to that. However, I think that the unique style Brut is perfect, given it is produced using the traditional champagne method. It has a light body, active carbonation and a fruity character that could almost make it champagne. Another option is a fruit lambic of your choice. Lively carbonation and the tartness draws out the wine-like qualities rather than beer sweetness.

So there you have it. I could offer a bit more detail about the flavours you want to look for, or give other examples of that would work. Instead I have laid some foundations and you can explore what works best for you on your own. I would love to hear what beer you picked for your various holiday festivities.